THE SIEGE
One day, and sooner than we imagine, Christ will return. World events point to the hazard and danger this world is strangely exposed to with the recent global insurgences. The sudden but rapid climatic and environmental crack with the lethal health hazards it portends has reduced the science intelligential to nothing but refined buffoons. Extreme weather conditions have suddenly increased: 530 people were killed in Bangladesh from extreme cold. Australia got her worst drought that experts say it would take her about 10 years to recover from. Almost one thousand people were slain in India. Flood destroyed over 28,000 houses in Argentina. 8 different Hurricanes hit the coastline states of America and the Caribbean leaving several thousands dead and causing more than 20 billion dollars in damage. Switzerland’s weather became so hot in June that about 1500 were killed from its intensity, the worst in 250 years. The list is almost endless, fulfilling the prophecies of Jesus as part of what would herald the end of the world.

Strangely but exactly as the Bible has prophesied, the world continue to acquire garments of steel as if the already old, worn out and tired world has just began. Suddenly, America is losing grip of the world, embarrassingly and with unrepentant frustration, conceding both political and economic gigantism to the emerging fiery monster called the EU, championed once again by the Nazis, who has suddenly resurrected, 60 years after the whole world collectively ‘killed’ it, but now stronger, with the largest economy in Europe, with a brand new opportunity to pursue the age-long ideology of one world, one ruler.

THE EU AND ROMAN EMPIRE IN PROPHESY.
Since history is prophecy, there is an indication that the now German-led EU, would sign a treaty with Russia, (as she did in the first and second world war) to be allies so as to curtail the American aggression, knowing fully well that it was America that stopped her ambition to rule the world twice. With Russia playing along because of the enormous political and economic advantage she stands to gain, particularly becoming a leading voice within the United Europe, a potential super power, a position America has scuttled for her in the world politics. The world again is gunning for a world dictator (the man of sin).

The EU is recruiting more member states to swell up the economic and political strength, but the power belongs to “…the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” (Rev. 17:1-2). In Bible prophecy, ‘waters’ mean people. No other organization controls more people, (especially, ‘the kings of the earth’) than the Vatican, who receives allegiance from over 1 billion faithfuls. Although, ‘a church’ in Rome, but yet recognized as a sovereign nation with power to send ambassadors to other nations of the earth.

John, in his revelation, while beholding the great whore said: “I saw A WOMAN sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.” Rev. 17:5-6

John saw A WOMAN, a term used throughout the New Testament as a symbol of a church. (Rev. 12:12-14). But this woman (Church) seats upon the beast,(!) decked with gold with a cup in her hand full of abominations, filthiness and fornication and her name was Mystery Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots. A woman is generally seen as a ‘weaker vessel’ yet sits on the beast to control the waters (‘the waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues’ vs. 15). The Holy Roman Empire, seen as harmless and weak, only preaching peace today is the only organization (Church) that sits upon many peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues, tribes and kings of the earth. No organization on earth is as rich, powerful and influential as the Holy Roman Empire. She is called the mother of all harlots because her children, the present churches, also drink from her cup of abominations ignorantly participating and actively practising many of her false doctrines of babylonic origin in the church today like the Christmas and Easter which are purely pagan worship of the sun god, of mother and child. The child (Thammuz), is eaten in the mass (death) through the wafer in the Eucharist and his mother, Semiramis, the queen of heaven, called Mary. The Great Babylon is drunken with the blood of disciples, saints and others who were martyred for the testimonies of Jesus through the dark ages.

The Bible as we carry it today would be a suicide in the more than 1000 years referred to as the ‘dark ages’ when it was only the catholic priest had the authority to carry the Bible. To posses one meant death. It was the explanation that the priest gave to the Bible alone that mattered. Those who ventured to query the authorities were declared heretic and burned at stake by the pope’s authority who alone is Holy and has the power to forgive sin as he is the ‘god on earth’.

The Vatican City, though a city in Rome, is in her 7th but final resurrection and now she is termed ‘The Holy Roman Empire’. “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth”. The woman is the brain behind the beast and Revelation 17: 17 says the KINGDOMS will ‘agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled”. This is talking of the EU who is preparing in unison to give power to one leader. The Holy Roman Empire has requested that the EU should make ‘God real’ in their constitution, when in actual fact; she claims to be the ‘God’ on earth. She is also decorating the brains behind EU with sainthood, that is, they would be referred to as ‘saints’ like Paul, Peter, etc, a tactic that would make EU subservient. “…For the mystery of iniquity doth already work... and then shall the wicked one be revealed who … even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders…”. 2Thes. 7-9.

THE FALLING AWAY
However, 2Thess. 2:3-4 says: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God”. Read Rev. 13. This is the Anti-Christ, who will usher the world into another political cataclysm. (Third World War?) This, inevitably, is the beginning of the end, and the return of the King who would withstand the Antichrist, the beast and the prophet in Armageddon and win victory through the sword of his mouth (Rev. 19:15,21) and then reconcile all things unto Himself. (Col.1: 20)

One of the characteristics of the end time Church is that there would be a great ‘falling away’ of saints, of “…those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come”. Heb. 6:4. Many Born Again Christians would lack the will power to “… earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” Jude 1:3-4. The oil in the lamp is getting dry as the hope of his calling seems unrealistic. The love of many is waxing cold. (Mt. 24:12). Men’s hearts are failing them for fear.(Lk. 21:26). Even true believers are caught in the temptation of saying: “Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” 2Pet. 3:4.

But Jesus warned in Luke 17:26-30 that: “as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

NARROW WAY
From history immemorial, God never saved by multitude. Although, almost all the cultures on the surface of the earth today has the remembrance of the flood, but we were told that only eight people were saved and the Bible says as it was, then, so shall it be, now!

In the days of Lot, it was only three people, Lot and his children that escaped the fire and brimstone that God rained on Sodom, the then economically flourishing city, because of their gross iniquity. Out of over 2 million people that left the land of Egypt, only two people got to the Promised Land, not even the leader, Moses, who died on the way because of ‘sin’ (Num. 20:10-11, 1Cor. 10:4).

Each time I read Luke 18:8, where Jesus asked, “…Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” I never stopped to wonder at this question judging by the number of churches today, who daily ‘save’ people every Sunday with all sort of messages culminating at the altar call. That question is as important in His heart today as it was, then. Would he find faith knowing fully well that it is FAITH alone that saves not religion yet that is what we find around today. This type of faith is the one that Peter encouraged us to ‘earnestly contend for’. (Jude1:3) …the SAVING FAITH. If all what we see around us is faith, then, there is no need to ‘contend’ for it because it is so common that everybody has it. Everybody is Born Again. It is even fast becoming shameful nowadays not to be called one. However, Jesus is not looking for the active talkers, He is looking for the obedient walkers.

In a gathering of more than 12million Christians recently, a man of God received a revelation of rapture. In it, he was said to have received that if the rapture happened right there in the gathering, less than 200 of the 12 million people would be raptured! This is actually a far cry, considering the fact that over 10,000 Pastors were there present not to talk of other spirit-filled people and anointed guests!

Of course, this type of message is such that many wouldn’t like to listen to and have virtually disappeared from the pulpit. Since the man did not announce that he had seen revelation of angels or Father Christmas distributing gifts to everybody in the gathering and yet the gifts are not exhausted, no one was likely to listen. If he had said that, there would have been a great shout, clap and noise of joy. But with this, many Pastors did not believe because it cast aspersion to their spiritual integrity. How could it be such a meagre number, presupposing that some of them would not make it. They must have concluded that the vision must have been from the devil. But it is consistent with what Jesus himself said in the verse we quoted earlier about the Noah and Lot. Many are actually called but only few chosen. (Mt. 22:14).

In another gathering of more than 200,000 people, a notable man of God was also said to have received a similar revelation. This time, he received that if the rapture were to happen right there and then, only about 5 people in the congregation would be raptured! Again, this is a gathering where thousands of Pastors were present. So, among who would the five be taken? If you care to know, it is likely going to be among the unlikely people! If Pastors would not be raptured, where would the congregation be?

Since we become what we hear, Satan has deliberately expunged the messages of rapture from many altars and replaced it with such that would excite them. Few places where it is being preached, Satan give them itchy ears and replace such Pastors with those who would only preach fables, fantasies, wisdom, prosperity, healing, break-through, miracles, etc.

Jesus said in Lk. 13:24: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able”. Why? “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” Mt. 7:4. Note those words; strive, strait, many will seek to enter and shall not, few find it.

ONE IN A MILLION
Another man of God in his revelation of the rapture said that the Lord showed him that rapture would be something compared to One In A Million! I looked at the Nigerian population, which is estimated at over 120million. Going by such, does it suggest that only 120 people in Nigeria will be raptured!? But if we want to be more critical, we could look at it in this way: although Nigerian population is about 120 million, not all are Christians, let alone Born Again.

With the recent upsurge in the born again thing and the rate of conversion to Christianity, especially amongst the more educated in Nigeria, we may generously conclude that Christianity is about half of the population. That halves the total population and consequently reduces our statistics from 120 in a million to just 60. Even from this, we know that not all those Christians are actually Christians as this umbrellas all Christians including many cultic organizations hiding under Christian religion. May we further estimate about half of this population to include strictly the born again, spirit-filled Christians who are actually expecting the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This has positioned the statistics in a very apprehensive status: Let’s say another half!

A country with 30 million Born Again, Spirit filled, tongue talking, demon-casting, Born Again Christians is certainly a great country! How I pray that such exist in the world of today. If America, with the largest population of self-professed Christians in the world, could boast of even half of this, the heavens will rejoice and more impact would be made in the world. In Sodom and Gomorrah, God could not find just five people despite Abraham’s plea! But with our statistics, let us say Nigeria has a population of 30 million of this, and applying the rule, how many does it qualify for rapture using the one-in-a-million rule?

(Continued in Part 2)
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